#Amitabh Bachchan inaugurates #Australian university scholarship named after him

Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan  presented Melbourne based La Trobe University graduate Roshan Kumar with the Shri Amitabh Bachchan Scholarship, valued at up to A$200,000 over four years.Mr Kumar is originally from the city of Ranchi in northern India. He will undertake a PhD into the potential of using social media to better communicate health messages to India’s estimated 80 million social media users.
Mr Kumar graduated from La Trobe with a Master of International Business in 2010. He studied a Bachelor of Engineering at the Birla Institute of Technology in Ranchiin 2006.
‘I am honoured to receive this scholarship which will help fund my research into improving the health of thousands of people living in India. Social media has immense potential to act as a powerful communication tool to share health information with millions of people,’ Mr Kumar said.
‘I have grown up watching Shri Amitabh Bachchan in movies. To imagine that I would meet him in person still seems like a dream.
La Trobe University Vice-Chancellor Professor John Dewar said it was an exciting and important day for the University.‘It is both an honour and delight to host the legendary film actor Amitabh Bachchanat the Melbourne campus of the University,’ Professor Dewar said.The scholarship will be presented every four years by Bachchan to an Indian citizen to develop a thesis related to media, digital technology and communication.
‘La Trobe University is very proud that Mr. Bachchan has agreed to work with us and help support the education of the next generation of Indian leaders who will help make a difference to the complex problems facing our world today.‘This is the beginning of a very exciting educational partnership between La Trobe University and a legend of the Indian film industry,’ Professor Dewar said.Professor Dewar said La Trobe has had a strong link with India since the late 1960s, when then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi visited the campus.‘We have many long-standing connections with India and currently host more than 1,100 students from India. We would welcome more to study here,’ he said.
La Trobe University is one of the oldest and most respected Universities in Victoria. It first opened its doors to students in 1967 and has since then given life-changing opportunities to 167,000 graduates.La Trobe University has relationship with various Indian education institutes and MOUs with Indian business giants such as HCL and Mahindra Reva.